PRESS RELEASE

27 January 2022

Public thematic report

ÉTABLISSEMENT PUBLIC CAMPUS

CONDORCET

A great ambition for humanities and social sciences at risk of

failure

Announced in September 2009, the project to create a campus dedicated to Humanities and

Social Sciences (HSS) was intended to drive the revival of this discipline in France.

Établissement Public Condorcet Campus (EPCC), often lauded as the counterpart of the

Paris-Saclay operation, is the result of a partnership project bringing together eleven

institutions including

“

grandes écoles

”

, universities and research bodies. The

Grand

Équipement Documentaire

(GED) was designed as a shared international documentary and

digital platform, the purpose of which was to bring everything together. However, the Court

notes that the start-up of this public agency is currently facing major difficulties: its working

methods (involving cooperation, pooling and coordination) have not been precisely defined,

and its ability to support researchers in their work

–

in addition to the access to equipment

it offers them

–

is still to be developed. There is a significant risk that this establishment,

which has fallen far short of initial expectations, will be reduced to the role of manager of a

real estate project that has not yet been completed.

A project born from a need for space and of financial and real estate opportunities

The Condorcet Campus, initially born of the need for space of several Parisian institutions, has

been constructed gradually, with the participation of many stakeholders, and the initial

decisions are now weighing on its implementation. The splitting of the project into two phases,

a decision made in 2011 when there was a lack of visibility of the available funding, has notably

led to its non-completion. In addition, decisions concerning the distribution of operations have

led to operations on the Aubervilliers site being split into two: a public-private partnership

(PPP) agreement and a public project contract (MOP). The first resulted in the delivery of nine

buildings that were brought into service in September 2019, while the second resulted in a

delayed delivery

–

in spring 2021. Given this fragmentation, phase 1, which includes the

Aubervilliers campus and the La Chapelle university centre, will have cost around €515

million.

The cost of phase 2, which has not yet been defined, is estimated at €201

million, although

this estimate is already out of date.

Opening of the GED under tough conditions, unclear scientific expectations

Établissement Public Condorcet Campus is experiencing major operating difficulties. This is

illustrated by the opening, under tough conditions, of the

Grand Équipement Documentaire

(GED) documentary facility

–

an unacceptable situation given the ambition of the project and

the resources invested. The establishment, with its unusual status, brings together institutions

with diverse interests, which have not been able or willing to coordinate around a common

project. Recent progress in this area did not prevent the EPCC from failing in the first wave of

the “Excellence in all its forms” call for projects of the Future Investment Programme (P

IA 4).

In the absence of a dynamic specific to the public agency, which has not managed to increase

cooperation between the various members of the campus, the State, due to a lack of

anticipation and steering, has allowed the project which it initiated to evolve without precisely

defining its target, its institutional organisation or its way of operating.

Relations with the State and member institutions to be rebuilt on the basis of the new

multiyear contract

In short, the Condorcet Campus project is flawed by the lack of definition of its objectives from

the outset. At this stage, it is up to the Ministry to define the State’s expectations of this

establishment in terms of scientific ambition, and to specify its modus operandi in line with

this. The new multiyear contract, provided for in the Research Programming Law, is thus an

opportunity to formalise the reciprocal commitments of the State, the EPCC and its member

institutions. For the Court, it is important to seize this opportunity and breathe new life into

this project. Its failure would be a severe blow to the Humanities and Social Sciences sector

given the resources mobilised.

Read the report

PRESS CONTACTS:

Emmanuel Kessler

◼

Director of Communications

◼

T

01 42 98 97 43

◼

emmanuel.kessler@ccomptes.fr

Julie Poissier

◼

Head of Press Relations

◼

T

01 42 98 97 43

◼

julie.poissier@ccomptes.f

r

@Courdescomptes

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